The Idiocy of Risking Peoples’ Lives and Welfare to Keep Fossil Fuels “in the Ground”

The recent extremely cold weather in the Midwest reminds us what could happen when “environmentalists” claim they can do a better job of running energy markets than competitive markets. A number of so-called “environmental” organizations are trying to keep fossil fuels “in the ground” despite the many blessings of using fossil fuels to meet peoples’ needs for energy. Presumably that decreases the chances that there will be global warming in the future under the junk science promoted by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC).

As outlined in a recent blog post, the UN IPCC’s “science” has no basis in terms of the scientific method, so keeping fossil fuels “in the ground” has no basis either. It is just wasting money, making energy more expensive, and RISKING THE LIVES OF INNOCENT AMERICANS UNDER EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS. Reducing the energy reserves available to meet the needs of people for reliable energy endangers peoples lives because the back-up energy reserves are smaller and more likely to prove inadequate under stress. And this is how many “environmental” organizations are promoting “keeping it in the ground.”

So far the US has avoided serious tragedies by cutting energy reserves, offering lower reliability, or taking fairly desperate measures. But we know what can happen from the experience of South Australia and other jurisdictions trying to restrict use of fossil fuels with no basis for endangering peoples’ lives, money, safety, and comfort. These actions are often taken by states or “environmentalists” suing states or the Federal Government with the result that there is inadequate pipeline or energy generation capacity to reliably meet the needs of people under dangerous weather conditions. The State of New York is one of those states because it is known to block energy transmission across its territory that would improve energy reliability in and across nearby states. All this is done in the name of “environmentalism” and based on junk science.

It is time to end the influence of “environmentalist” scientific charlatans and allow the energy markets to decide what reliability and reserves are needed by various energy systems. The competitive markets have done a very good job of running the energy markets for as long as they have existed. Letting technically incompetent “environmentalists” run these energy markets will sooner or later result in economic and even human disasters of considerable magnitude for no gain other than the ego of the “environmentalists” who think they can do a better job than competitive markets can. They cannot.